ENTERTAINMENT

By Wolf Schneider

“A raw and honest journey of addiction, love, trauma, and redemption— grounded in a deep love of place and all things mustang.” , Wilder bucks against a story as desiccated as the deserts she has dwelled in—kicking hard enough to free what was bound, to redeem what was broken.” Desert Cabal “There’s a quiet heroine at the center of this story, yes, pointing toward a beautiful world. It can be ours if we’ll love better, lean closer, and listen to the voices, like Wilder’s own, well worth heeding from birth.” The Oasis This Time is the story of a woman coming to know her own wildness— a wildness that is free, and sustaining, and on her own terms.” Fall Back Down When I Die Watching wild horses is the best medicine, like watching a river or the flames of a camp writes Kathryn Wilder. Her personal story of grief, motherhood, and return to the desert entwines with the story of America’s mustangs as Wilder makes a home on the Colorado Plateau, her property bordering a mustang illuminates these controversial creatures—their complex history in the Americas, their powerful presence on the landscape, and ways to help both horses and habitats stay wild in the arid West—and celebrates the animal Best American Essays and nominated for the Pushcart Prize, has appeared in such Fourth Genre, , and many anthologies and Hawai‘i magazines. Wilder holds an MA from Northern Arizona University and an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She lives among KATHRYN WILDERAuthor photo: TJ Holmes | Cover photo: TJ Holmes. Mustang stallion Chrome, Disappointment Valley, Colorado | Cover design: Kathleen Metcalf DESERT CHROME

TORREY HOUSE

“Testimony to the healing power of wildness.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS

2/17/21 12:09 PM

DESERT CHROME

HEALING WITH WILD HORSES IN THE WEST

SHE’S LIVED ON MAUI. IN ARIZONA AND CALIFORNIA. Finally, in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, where connecting with horses—especially wild mustangs—has helped Kathryn Wilder ground herself and come to terms with her grief, a former heroin addiction, a mismanaged motherhood, and all the mistakes that can pile up in a lifetime. In this raw, courageous memoir, written in her sixties, Wilder finds a fresh sense of purpose.

She moves to rural New Mexico with her dog Cojo. Her first impression is, “Next to a Rio Grande tributary and cottonwoods turning to gold sits an adobe casita with a flat roof and flagstone lanai. The casita is empty but for a single-bed mattress on a window seat of the same size.” Wilder turns it into home for a while. She and Cojo adapt to the landscape, scheduling their winter days around sunlight. Undertaking a knee surgery in Taos, she suffers afterwards yet rebuffs addictive pain medicine. Knee better, she begins horseback riding again.

While scouting a remote Colorado cabin Wilder first glimpses the wild horses, noting how, “Truck motor ticking, the breeze holding my breath and theirs, I stand in the middle of an empty road in the middle of a huge no longer empty valley in the middle of my life watching wild horses until even the dust from their hooves on the powdery gray trail disappears.” She moves to Colorado, gets involved in mustang activism, buys horses of her own, has accidents riding them, and even still insists, “I am for looking for another—ranch-broke and wise in the ways of cattle and taking care of a rider.” Among the realizations horses have led her to? “Even in fear I have strength. That strength picks me up, gets me dressed, and feeds me through the tough times.”

Kathryn Wilder Photo by TJ Holmes

THE LENSIC WELCOMES AUDIENCES TO A STELLAR 2022

By Kelly Koepke | Photo Kate Russell Photography

Turning the page to a new month and year always brings a sense of anticipation. Especially when we see that music, dance and theater performances dot our calendars! And even more so when the event is at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in downtown Santa Fe.

“After a challenging year, with our safety and health policies and procedures in place, happy Lensic audiences have returned,” says Joel Aalberts, the Lensic’s Executive Director. “It’s exciting and important to have our community together and this is how you do it.”

The second half of the Lensic Presents 202122 season highlights the joy of live, shared experiences. The energy of a live audience simply cannot be replicated anywhere else.

Highlights of the rest of the Lensic season include January’s Tango Argentina, a sophisticated and sexy show that has been touring the world. On Valentine’s Day, Santa Fe favorite and Pink Martini vocalist Storm Large returns for her third cabaret-style visit. March brings back Drum Tao and their fiery, energetic Taiko percussion spectacle. In April, the 75 performers of Ballet Folklorico de Mexico celebrate traditional dance, costumes and more. And the ongoing Live In HD series from both The Metropolitan Opera and National Theatre in London continues.

As a community supported nonprofit organization, some 40 percent of the Lensic’s budget is raised through patron contributions or memberships. Audience support allows the Lensic to offer discounted rental rates to numerous organizations that use the historic venue as their home base: the Santa Fe Symphony, Santa Fe ProMusica, Performance Santa Fe and others.

The Lensic also offers the largest arts education program in the state, reaching 18,000 school children annually. “This priority work ensures that young people in the community have the opportunity to be turned onto and by an arts experience,” says Aalberts. “These are experiences this next generation of arts patrons will remember for the rest of their lives, and sometimes the first time they’ve ever seen a live performance. Watching children explore their creativity and have fun is so rewarding.”

The knowledge that you are exposing the next generation to the wild, wonderful world of live performance is just one of the many benefits of Lensic membership. Additional perks include early access to ticket sales, discounts for select performances, opportunities to meet artists, special members-only events, and more

When you join the Lensic today at the $100 level or above, you’ll receive a free Lensic tote bag as a token of The Lensic’s gratitude, plus the priceless benefit of knowing you’re supporting a community-based organization doing important work. Here’s to more live performance in 2022!

JOEL AALBERTS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Lensic Performing Arts Center 211 W. San Francisco Street Box Office: 505-988-1234 lensic.org